Equipment
TaylorMade goes big with the AeroBurner irons
Wide soles, thick top lines and long blade lengths. That’s not the recipe for a set of classic-looking irons, but when it comes to performance, it’s hard to beat.
TaylorMade’s new AeroBurner irons are designed to be the longest, most forgiving irons in the company’s 2015 lineup, thanks to their low center of gravity and extreme heel-toe weighting. Like TaylorMade’s other irons, the AeroBurners also have the company’s Speed Pocket, a slot in the sole that raises launch angle and improves ball speed — particularly on off-center hits.
[quote_box_center]”Over the years, TaylorMade irons have gotten smaller,” said Tomo Bystedt, TaylorMade’s director of product creation for irons. “We felt we were not meeting the needs of certain golfers, and wanted to make an iron that was as long and as easy to play as anything we’ve ever made.”[/quote_box_center]
Related: Click here to learn about TaylorMade’s AeroBurner Mini Driver.
According to Bystedt, the AeroBurner irons are for golfers who don’t hit their irons as far as they’d like. That’s why they have the stronger lofts that they do — the 6 iron measures 25.5 degrees, the pitching wedge measures 43 degrees.
[quote_box_center]”We don’t typically use handicap as a guide… but these are probably for golfers with handicaps of 15 or more,” he said. [/quote_box_center]
Noticeably absent from the design of the AeroBurner irons are TaylorMade’s “Face Slots,” which are two vertical slots positioned on the toe and heel areas of the club face. They are used in the company’s RSi 1, RSi 2 and RSi TP irons.
Face slots make a club face play “larger,” or more forgiving than it would otherwise without increasing the size of the head. Because of the already large head size of the AeroBurner irons, Face Slots were not needed for the AeroBurner’s design, Bystedt said.
Golfers interested in the AeroBurner irons should expect a ball flight with a slight left bias from the clubs.
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- AeroBurner v. SpeedBlade
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- At address: AeroBurner v. SpeedBlade (right)
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- AeroBurner v. Ping G30
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- At Address: AeroBurner v. Ping G30 (right)
[quote_box_center]”The RSi 1 irons are designed to fly dead straight,” Bystedt said. “But we gave the AeroBurner irons a CG that will create about 2.5 yards more left bias.”[/quote_box_center]
The AeroBurner irons (available in 4-PW, AW, SW) will be in stores March 27.
Stock Shafts: Available with FST REAX 88 High Launch steel shafts ($699 for an eight piece set) or AeroBurner REAX 60 graphite shafts ($799) in stiff, regular, senior or ladies flex.
Click here to see what GolfWRX Members are saying about the AeroBurner irons in our forum.
Specs
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- Kevin Tway what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX
5-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX
Irons: Wilson Staff Utility (2), Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: Mitsubishi MMT 100 TX (2), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F @51, 56-14F), SM7 (60-10S)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48-56), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (60)
Putter: Scotty Cameron T-5 Proto
Grip: Scotty Cameron Black Baby T
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4
More photos of Kevin Tway’s WITB in the forums.
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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?
Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.
When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.
To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.
Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.
“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.
“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”
Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.
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Equipment
Webb Simpson equipment Q&A: Titleist’s new 2-wood, 680 blade irons, and switching to a broomstick Jailbird
With seven career wins on the PGA Tour, including a U.S. Open victory, Webb Simpson is a certified veteran on the course. But he’s also a certified veteran in the equipment world, too. He’s a gearhead who truly knows his stuff, and he’s even worked closely with Titleist on making his own custom 682.WS irons.
On Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship, I caught up with Simpson to hear about his experience with Titleist’s new prototype 2-wood, how Titleist’s 680 Forged irons from 2003 ended up back in his bag, and why he’s switching into an Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser broomstick putter this week for the first time.
Click here to read our full story about Simpson’s putter switch on PGATOUR.com’s Equipment Report, or continue reading below for my full Q&A with Simpson at Quail Hollow Club on Wednesday.
See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here
GolfWRX: It seems like you’ve been a little all over the place with your irons in the past six months or so, and now going back to the 680’s. Is that just a comfort thing? What’s been going on with the irons?
Webb Simpson: Titleist has been so great at working with me, and R&D, on trying to get an iron that kind of modernizes the 680. And so the 682.WS took the T100 grooves, but kinda took the look and the bulk and the build of the 680’s into one club. They’re beautiful, and awesome looking. I just never hit them that well for a consistent period of time. It was probably me, but then I went to T100’s and loved them. I loved the spin, the trajectory, the yardage, but again, I never went on good runs. Going through the ground, I couldn’t feel the club as well as with the blade. So last week, I’m like, ‘Alright. I’m gonna go back more for…comfort, and see if I can get on a nice little run of ball striking.’
So that’s why I went back.
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OK, that makes sense. I know you had done some 2-wood testing recently. Is that in the bag right now?
It’s like day-by-day. I used it at Hilton Head every day. Valero, I used it one round. And this week, me and my caddie will do the book every morning, and if it’s a day where we think we need it, we’ll just put it in and take the 3-wood out. I love it because it’s a super simple swap. Like, it doesn’t really change much.
Yeah, can you tell me about that club? I mean, we don’t really know anything about it yet. You know? I haven’t hit it or anything, obviously.
It has grooves like a 3-wood. Spin is perfect. And it’s honestly, like, everything is in the middle of a 3-wood and driver number. Trajectory, spin, carry, all of it. So, a Hilton Head golf course is almost too easy to talk about because, you know, there, so many holes are driver 3-wood.
Valero, our thinking was we had two par-5’s into the wind, and we knew that it would take two great shots to get there in two. So instead of hitting driver-driver, we just put it in. And I used it on those holes.
Hilton was a little easier because it was off-the-tee kind of questions. But Colonial will be a golf course where, you know, there’s a lot of driver or 3-woods. It’s kind of like a backup putter or driver for me now. I’ll bring it to every tournament.
So it’s, like, in your locker right now, probably?
Well, it would be. It’s in my house [because Webb lives near by Quail Hollow Club, and is a member at the course.] It’s in the garage.
Oh, yeah, that’s right. Do you know what holes you might use it out here if it goes in play?
Potentially 15, depending on the wind. Second shot on 10. Could be 14 off the tee. The chances here are pretty low (that he’ll use the 2-wood). But, like, Greensboro would be an awesome club all day. I’m trying to think of any other golf courses.
There’s plenty that it’ll be a nice weapon to have.
It’s interesting, the wave of 2-woods and mini drivers. Like, it’s just really taken off on Tour, and all the companies have seemed to embrace it.
Yeah. The thing I had to learn, it took me, like, at least a week to learn about it is you gotta tee it up lower than you think. I kept teeing it up too high. You need it low, like barely higher than a 3-wood. And that was where I got optimal spin and carry. If you tee it up too high, you just don’t get as much spin and lose distance, I don’t know if that’s just a mini driver thing.
And you obviously have a Jailbird putter this week. What spurred that on?
Inconsistent putting. I’m stubborn in a lot of ways when it comes to my equipment, but I have to be open minded – I just hadn’t putted consistently well in a while. And I’m like, ‘Man, I feel my ball-striking coming along. Like I feel better; for real, better.’
If I can just get something in my hands that I’m consistent with. Being on Tour, you see it every year, guys get on little runs. I can put together four to five tournaments where I’m all the sudden back in the majors, or in the FedExCup Playoffs. You can turn things around quick out here. I’m like, ‘Man, whatever’s going to get me there, great.’
My caddie, David Cook, caddied for Akshay at the Houston Open and he putted beautifully. Then, I watched Akshay on TV at Valero, and he putted beautifully. And, I’m like, ‘I’m just going to try it.’
I’ve never tried it for more than a putt or two, and I just ordered what Akshay uses. It was pretty awkward at first, but the more I used it, the more I’m like, ‘Man, it’s pretty easy.’ And a buddy of mine who’s a rep out here, John Tyler Griffin, he helped me with some setup stuff. And he said at Hilton Head, he wasn’t putting well, then tried it, and now he makes everything. He was very confident. So I’m like, ‘Alright, I’ll try it.’”
And you’re going with it this week?
Hundred percent.
Alright, I love it. Thank you, I always love talking gear with you. Play well this week.
Thanks, man.
See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here
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Shawn K
Apr 2, 2015 at 8:57 am
Rented Speed Blades a couple of times on vacation. I’m an 11 with decent club head speed and couldn’t hit the 4 iron. Scrap the 3,4 for Hybrids. That probably costs more though.
Not to mention hitting the lip of a fairway bunker with my 6 iron, forgot it was a 5 iron.
Jeff
Mar 20, 2015 at 11:08 pm
If the lofts are that big of a deal buy the 4 through AW set instead of 3-PW. I’m sure the slot thingy makes them an improvement on the 09 Burners and that’s a set I still see in play ALL THE TIME. I don’t see much difference between this year’s Callaway and Taylormade G I models, almost the same paint.
KK
Mar 14, 2015 at 8:53 am
If you look at Maltby’s tests, you’ll see the CG on TM’s distance irons is nothing special. The classic Ping G5 has a lower CG. Big picture: there’s not much you can do to increase iron distance of cast clubs other than jack the lofts and lengthen/lighten the shafts. By the logic some of you guys are using, we should have 68 or 70 degree lob wedges right now to compensate for TM’s amazing tech developments. Stop
Marcus Rogers
Mar 13, 2015 at 3:30 am
Wow. I saw this coming from a mile away. Soon enough your PW is going to be 38* and your 4 iron will be 15*
STOP RUINING THE GAME TSHWAG
tailormade
Mar 12, 2015 at 8:32 pm
6 degree gaps in the scoring clubs and three irons (4,5,6) under 26 degrees of loft?
Surely someone at TM is having a good ol’ fashioned LOL. These are truly awful.
Daniel
Mar 13, 2015 at 3:22 am
Word. These are unplayable for every category of golfers.
James
Mar 12, 2015 at 3:13 pm
Jesus Murphy………..My 5 iron has 29* of loft. 22* is just preposterous. I imagine they are forgiving but Ping builds the most forgiving clubs IMO, they still manage to get decent distance out of slightly stronger then players clubs. These look basically like the 2009 Burner irons with a “slot” on the bottom that does nothing unless you have Clubhead Speed. Players from this category usually dont have the speed to get the bennies of the slots.
Jer
Apr 4, 2015 at 8:18 am
I’ll couldn’t agree with you more. I’m almost embarrassed for TMAG anymore. To me it sends a negative message when u can’t stick to the cycle of revising your clubs like other OEMS, and must release and market more and more “gimmicks?”
My interest died after R7 425 , and there tour preferred from 2010-2011 (mc,mb,cb) I couldn’t even tell you what there offerings are anymore as it’s literally a couple months and a new way to gain 10yds. Anyone playing TMAG should be hitting the ball 40% further then us using “inferior outdated” products from6 months ago, our technology is dead. (Last line attempt at sarcasm)
Bobby Cunningham
Mar 12, 2015 at 2:53 pm
Wow TaylorMade, great innovation. These look drastically different from the 10 previous generations of garbage you have put out.
Daniel
Mar 12, 2015 at 12:15 pm
And in this case “hits their short irons just fine” means that they have reasonable length, decent ballstriking and, above all, the proper gapping with 10-15 yards between clubs.
Stretching these gaps to 20 yards does nothing but harm.
And if their distances in the long end are already cramped since they lack the clubhead speed to hit a 26° 5-iron, what good is a 22° 5-iron? It will have even shorter carry.
Daniel
Mar 12, 2015 at 11:21 am
Just a guess but it can’t be far off.
My friends with 10+ handicaps hits their short irons just fine but struggles with anything longer than a 6-iron.
They don’t need stronger lofted short irons, they need easier to hit long irons, but what TaylorMade is offering them is the opposite.
Shane
Mar 12, 2015 at 10:19 am
2.5 yards of draw bias in an iron? You’re kidding right? How’s this done by changing the CG? No thanks TM!! I’m sticking to my Eye2+!
Long Ball
Mar 12, 2015 at 8:40 am
Can you explain the formula you used to come up with those yardage gaps?
Daniel
Mar 12, 2015 at 4:28 am
Never mind the number on the soles, with those lofts no way the player will get reasonable gapping. 20-25 yards between GW and PW, 5 yards between 5-iron and 4-iron.
Good work Taylor Made.
Long Ball
Mar 12, 2015 at 12:15 am
Trust me, the vast majority of people using these clubs are not “the fickle puma newbies”. Its the people who cant play the game without some help.
The game needs these people to stay on the course and needs these clubs on the shelves.
Simz
Mar 12, 2015 at 8:33 am
Truth
gocanucksfan123
Mar 11, 2015 at 10:18 pm
Lol I love the people trashing Taylormade’s lofts when they haven’t got a clue about how physics works. Educate yourselves, then give opinions please.
Jeffrey Trigger
Mar 23, 2015 at 4:57 pm
When I was a senior in high school, I had a set of MP-14’s. Of course I played a lot, and I loved those irons. I will also say that the MP-14 is to this day the most forged club I’ve ever played. As long as the strike was good (not fat or bladed), the ball didn’t waver off line very much on mishits.
Dylan
Apr 8, 2015 at 10:43 am
Am I the only one who thinks that high handicappers with stronger lofts would be the exact same as better players with weaker lofts because better golfers hit down on the ball which de-lofts the club, whereas high handicappers tend to sweep which doesn’t change the loft at all?
Long Ball
Mar 11, 2015 at 9:04 pm
KK, I guess in short, I was suggesting the loft has to be adjusted to cater for the low CG. The end result being a 6 iron that launches like a 6 iron. If it launched like a four iron than they got the balance wrong. My experience with “shovels” as Mark puts it, (Im talking about “shovels” designed by club manufacturers with lots of coin), is they launch like the number suggests but go further and are forgiving.
Long Ball
Mar 11, 2015 at 8:39 pm
Sorry, I assumed everyone would have realised I was suggesting the loft had to be adjusted so the trajectory was now back to a 6 iron and not an 8
Mark
Mar 11, 2015 at 8:35 pm
Shovels.
KK
Mar 11, 2015 at 8:18 pm
TM didn’t just work the back, they worked the front to hit like a 4 iron, lol. What % of the guys demoing these clubs will be able to hit the 6/4iron? Or even the 7/5 iron? That’s a small %. No wonder TM revenue is down.
Long Ball
Mar 11, 2015 at 8:09 pm
Take a 6 iron, with a 6 iron shaft length & a 6 iron head weight, work the back of the head to make it much easier to hit for those who need that (isn’t this still the majority of golfers?). But now it has the trajectory of an 8 iron. Do you alter the number to 8?…. No! Its the length and weight of a 6 iron. Its a 6 iron that goes further and is easier to hit. Thank you TaylorMade!!!
jgpl001
Mar 11, 2015 at 7:53 pm
These are ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING
A 25.5 deg 6 iron……….so what next from the great TM machine? I can’t wait- YAWN
KK
Mar 11, 2015 at 7:45 pm
Haha. The typical guy demoing these clubs won’t even be able to hit the 6 iron. They will have to club down to an 8 or 9 iron to get any consistency.
Rich
Mar 11, 2015 at 6:46 pm
Exactly. It ain’t about the number on the bottom, it’s about how far you hit ’em.
marty
Mar 11, 2015 at 7:23 pm
It’s kinda about your score at the end.
rgb
Mar 11, 2015 at 5:36 pm
Lemme guess. A+. I read a review from a couple of years ago about Miura irons….
“Miura irons don’t include plastics, carbon fiber, adjustable weights, “super expanded sweet spots cones of power,” or, well, anything invented after roughly 1957.”
Yea. That.
kloyd0306
Mar 11, 2015 at 5:17 pm
TMAG could have saved themselves the effort of a new design and its manufacture by simply reproducing the Burner 2.0 irons and provide the buyer with a Sharpie to cross out the number on the sole and write over it with a smaller number.
gwillis7
Mar 11, 2015 at 3:57 pm
True. Everyone does it, even mizzie and titleist. My goodness though, a 4 iron at 19 degree loft! Cally and Tm are the ones pushing the envelope with this. I have no problem with them coming out with clubs all the time, I could care less. But lofts are getting ridiculous now
pk20152
Mar 11, 2015 at 3:54 pm
I wish TM would put out more club options – said no one ever.
Golfraven
Mar 11, 2015 at 2:36 pm
For hcpers 15 and higher. Please raise the bar tiohcp 25 and above. Don’t see those flying if the shelves. those folks need those lofts to fly the bar any yards.
ABOMB
Mar 11, 2015 at 2:25 pm
Damn, that iron is fat! And I don’t mean Phat!
tim
Mar 11, 2015 at 1:24 pm
TM’s version of the Big Berthas.
ArnoldD
Mar 11, 2015 at 12:55 pm
I guess TMAG proved you can redesign (AeroBurners), a redesign(SpeedBlades), of a redesign(RocketBlades), from a redesign (RocketBalls); while changing the name.
Ryan Stewart
Mar 11, 2015 at 12:01 pm
6 degrees of separation between the PW and the AW? that is a huge gap for scoring clubs. you could comfortably fit another club in between those lofts.
Todd
Mar 11, 2015 at 11:35 am
43 degree PW – WOW…that’s stronger than goat’s breath!
kess
Mar 11, 2015 at 11:35 am
I look forward to the day that my set is driver, fw, hy, 7,8,9,pw,aw,gw,sw,lw,superlw,flat wedge, putter. That way I can say “oh, you needed a 4iron to get it 200yds. Weak sauce.”
tim
Mar 11, 2015 at 1:23 pm
LOL!
kess
Mar 11, 2015 at 11:30 am
Woo-hoo! Almost made it to the 40* pw! Come on tmag, you can do it!
RobN
Mar 11, 2015 at 10:53 am
Oops, I thought I read that as 22.5°. But still, 25.5° for a 6 iron is nuts.
Greg V
Mar 11, 2015 at 9:32 am
A 6-iron with a 25.5* loft is almost as strong as my AP1 4-iron (which I don’t use – ever).
I am guessing that the target market for these would only need 6 to PW, and perhaps for many, only 7 to PW. Gap wedge(s) too.
Jengus
Mar 11, 2015 at 9:25 am
Time to dig a snow cave because here comes the Avalanche.